Tafsir of Ash-Shu`ara' 26:32

{فَأَلْقَىٰ عَصَاهُ فَإِذَا هِيَ ثُعْبَانٌ مُّبِينٌ}

"A manifest serpent": Clearly and obviously a serpent, not something resembling a serpent as is the case with things falsified by trickery and sorcery.

It is narrated that it transformed into a living snake that rose into the sky for the distance of a mile, then descended toward Pharaoh, saying: "O Moses, command me as you wish." Pharaoh said: "I adjure you by Him who sent you, take it!" So he took it, and it returned to being a staff.

{لِّلنَّاظِرِينَ} A proof that its whiteness was something that caused onlookers to gather to gaze at it, because it was outside the norm; it was a luminous whiteness.

It is narrated that when Pharaoh saw the first sign, he said: "Is there another?" So he (Moses) brought out his hand and said to him: "What is this?" He replied: "Your hand." He said: "And what is in it?" He then placed it into his armpit and drew it out, and it had a radiance that nearly blinded the eyes and filled the horizon.

{قَالَ لِلْمَلَإِ حَوْلَهُ إِنَّ هَٰذَا لَسَاحِرٌ عَلِيمٌ * يُرِيدُ أَن يُخْرِجَكُم مِّنْ أَرْضِكُم بِسِحْرِهِ فَمَاذَا تَأْمُرُونَ}